Ponto sem retorno / Point of No Return
October 10, 2025—February 1, 2026
Museu de Arte de São Paulo – MASP, Brasil
The exhibition’s subtitle, “Point of No Return,” refers to a moment in the planet’s history when it would no longer be possible to remedy the harmful effects of human actions on the environment. From that point on, the signs evident on Earth and in global warming are considered irreversible.
Beyond portraying the climate crisis, Tossin incorporates into her works the material elements of catastrophe, grounding her practice in the remnants of a collapsed world—what she calls “future fossils.” These sculptures are made from discarded materials, plant fragments, or casts of her own body. At the same time, the artist often turns to the macro scale, the world, the universe, in works that engage with maps, flags, and images of outer space.
Two major climate events shaped the development of this exhibition and resonate in some of the works on view. In May 2024, devastating floods struck the state of Rio Grande do Sul, her birthplace and where part of her family lives. In response, Tossin conceived Volume morto [Dead Pool] (2025), a large-scale installation enveloping the gallery walls, as if to evoke the traces of an imagined flood within the museum itself.
In January 2025, a massive wildfire swept through Los Angeles, where Tossin lives, destroying entire neighborhoods, including the home of collectors who owned one of her works. These events underscore the connections between the artist’s practice and research and the inescapable reality of environmental disasters. Clarissa Tossin reflects on what it means to keep making more objects in times of climate emergency—a point of no return for the Earth, for living beings, for humans, and for art itself.
Clarissa Tossin: Point of No Return is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, MASP, and Guilherme Giufrida, Assistant Curator, MASP. The exhibition is part of the museum’s 2025 program dedicated to Histories of Ecology.
– Guilherme Giufrida
Point of No Return
xxOctober 10, 2025—February 1, 2026
Museu de Arte de São Paulo – MASP, São Paulo, Brasil
Solo exhibition